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It’s time to admit the Wallabies just don’t have the capacity to be number one, or even number two in the world. We’re just not at that standard at the moment.
We have some good players. We produce some very good moments and series of plays. We have some very good games. We’re competitive. But we just don’t quite have the capacity to get there.
I know we’ve been so close to being number two. And perhaps we could have got there. But how many times have we been in this position, saying the same thing. We’ve been building for a decade now, without much change.
Sure, we’ve lost a ton of players to injury and overseas during this time. But I’m taking about now, with the players we do have available.
Of course, full marks for trying. But we are simply missing the strength in the forwards. And where we do have strength, we’re missing technique, skill and speed. The best way to think of the forward pack is like a single organism.
And in that sense, our pack is unable to consistently dominate quite a few other packs. Our forwards are also very one dimensional when they try and run the ball – not much passing among themselves, with just one-up hits.
Yes, we can change the coach (again), and we can shift the players around. But it won’t be enough. And even if we do somehow miraculously get to number two in the world one day, we don’t really have the consistency to stay there.
This is the point where it gets tempting to fantasise about having only one rugby code in Australia and imagining all our league players being available to play union – or even a heap of Aussie rules players. It’s easy to think the Wallabies would win far more often than they do currently, if they had all the Australian league players available to them – and even if the All Blacks also had all the New Zealand league players available to them.
However, it’s just a fantasy. And there’s no point speculating. Australian rugby fans can’t use this as an excuse any more that the New Zealand league fans can use the same excuse when they play against the Kangaroos.
What we need to do is simply admit that the Wallabies just don’t have the capacity to be number one, or even number two in the world. We’re just not at that standard at the moment.
But that’s okay. Once we admit that, we can be more realistic in our expectations. And that will be the best place to build from. We will be more humble and teachable, ready to learn new attitudes and perhaps adopt new styles of play not traditionally associated with the usual Australian way to play rugby.
We can try things that we currently find too risky to try. We can re-learn our strengths, and perhaps find new ones. We can put building blocks in place where there have traditionally been gaps in how Australians play rugby.
This is the position Argentina are in right now. They are building a solid team. They have a strong forward pack, which sets the platform for their backs. They don’t have too many stars in their back line, but their forwards give them so much opportunity. And their backs will only get better. When they do have a few more stars and depth – look out.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.